Author/Mechanic. Boulay's Garage: 603-358-6444

Surprise! You have got a flat tire, only to find out your spare tire is flat too!

February 6th, 2013 Joe

Whats wrong with this picture? The spare tire was driven on flat. Let me ask you a question, and I do not want to come across as a wise guy but, I am trying to save you a little headache from forming. You get a flat tire and get the jack and spare tire out of the trunk only to find out that your spare tire is flat! Now what? Well you need air in that space saver tire and maybe you could hitch a ride to one of those coin operated air pumps? Or maybe you wont need to do that because you have AAA and some will come by and add air to the spare tire to the tire and change it for you? I don’t know how many times I have seen a vehicle towed into the shop with a flat temporary space saver tire. They remove the wheel with the flat tire, then install the temporary space saver tire without actually checking to see if it has air in it, then drive off oblivious to the fact that their spare tire is flat as well. As you can see with the car with the flat space saver tire picture they did just this,and look what happened when they hit the first bump in the road. Ouch!

Driving around on a flat spare tire gets you nowhere fast!

Most spare tire pressures for temporary spares are set to 60 psi and should be checked often,especially when you are about to go on a trip. You may ask yourself this question: “Why isn’t my mechanic checking my spare tire pressure along with my other tires when I bring my car in for service”? The first thing is you may need to ask to have your spare tire pressure checked, it wont be done with a regular service. Or it might be that when your mechanic pops open your trunk he might see something like the picture seen below in this posting! If you are unable to get in the regular habit of checking your own spare tire pressure you may want to invest in a little portable air compressor. These compressors plug right into your accessory socket in your car and you will have air when you need it. I suggested in my book” If That Car Could Talk” to familiarize yourself with your vehicle and read your owners manual if you haven’t done so already. You will find instructions to show you how to change a flat tire when you get one. So the next warm sunny day you get, give yourself some practice by changing a tire in your own flat level driveway. Someday you might it might pay off and you will be glad you did! If you have a handicap and are physically unable to change a flat tire you should consider getting a AAA Membership. This way some one will come to assist you with just a simple phone call. Please also know this, even when your temporary space saver spare tire is properly inflated it is only designed to get you to where you can get your REAL tire repaired. Do not exceed the maximum rated speed the tire is meant for. Typically you are not to exceed 40 m.p.h.

If you request that your spare tire pressure be checked, please have it accessible.